Video Game Vintage Title: Tales Of Xillia

Tales Of Xillia

Tales of Xillia is a Japanese role-playing game released for the PlayStation 3 on September 7, 2011 in Japan. It is developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco Bandai Games. It is the thirteenth core product of the Tales series. The game was localized for North America on August 6, 2013 and Europe on August 9, 2013.

The game takes place in a fictional world called Rieze Maxia and follows Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell. The two discover a military research that involves spirits and will endanger the world. The plot's central theme is Yuruginaki shinnen no RPG .

The game's reception in Japan was highly positive. It broke previous records for most pre-orders in the Tales series and sold over half a million copies in a week. During Sony's PlayStation Awards, Tales of Xillia received the gold prize and ranked in the top ten for the User's choice award. The sequel, Tales of Xillia 2, was released on November 1, 2012.

Tales Of Xillia Plot

Two millennia ago, humans developed a power source called Spyrix that uses up the lives of spirits to produce power. As a result, the spirit Maxwell gathered a group of spirits and humans, whose evolution has allowed them to utilize mana, and erected a barrier around a large territory to isolate it from the world and escape the Spyrixs' influence. The isolated land came to be known as Rieze Maxia and the outer lands as Elympios. Twenty years prior to the present, Elympios was able to briefly bypass the barrier and formed a terrorist organization known as Exodus which intends to destroy the barrier to resupply Elympios' diminishing spirit supply. In the present era, Rieze Maxia is ruled by two countries called Rashugal and Auj Oule. While the two countries appear to live in harmony, they both initiate black operations in order to conquer the other and unite Rieze Maxia as one.

In the present, medical student Jude Mathis investigates a military research facility in order to search for his missing professor. There he witnesses a Spyrix-powered weapon called the Lance of Kresnik absorb the professor. The military prep Jude as the next victim, but he is saved by Milla Maxwell, the successor to Maxwell. To counter Milla, the lance is activated which absorbs her spirits, rendering her powerless, and forces her and Jude to retreat. Jude and Milla journey to confront Nachtigal, Rashugal's king who endorsed the Lance's creation. During their travel, they are joined by a mercenary named Alvin, Elize Lutus, a young girl with enhanced magical powers, and Rowen J. Illbert, a legendary tactician and former friend of Nachtigal. They fail to defeat Nachtigal, and Milla is injured in the battle. Jude takes Milla to his hometown to treat her injuries and is joined by his childhood friend, Leia Rolando, who wishes to accompany him. The party returns, defeats Nachtigal, and discover that the spear was created by Exodus to destroy the barrier around Rieze Maxia. The Lance is briefly activated allowing Exodus to regroup with an Elympian army and to engage Rieza Maxia in war. Assisted by Gaius, Auj Oule's king, the party kills the head of Exodus and ends the invasion. However, the spirit Muz�t traps the party on the exploding ship as she intends to kill everyone who knows about the barrier's existence. Milla then sacrifices herself to power the Lance of Kresnik in order to free the party.

After a period of mourning, Jude leads the party to persuade Maxwell to dispel the barrier and to find a way to save both Rieze Maxia and Elympios. The party is reunited with Milla, reborn as a spirit, and are able to convince Maxwell. However, Gaius and Muz�t believe the party to be naive and uses the Lance of Kresnik to trap Maxwell as they intend on sustaining the barrier and letting Elympios die off. Maxwell sends the party to a city in Elympios before he is completely subdued. There, the party learns about life in Elympios and an ongoing research on Spyrite, a power source to replace Spyrix that is harmless to spirits. With renewed conviction, the party returns to defeat Gaius and Muz�t, and to free Maxwell. Maxwell dispels the barrier and disperses its energy around the world to temporarily power Spyrixes until the completion of Spyrites. To escape the Spyrixs' effects, the spirits return to the spirit world and close the gateway to the human world. The party returns to their normal lives with Jude joining a Spyrite research team, Milla resuming her role as Maxwell, and Gaius uniting Rieze Maxia as a single country.

Tales Of Xillia Gameplay

Tales of Xillia consists primarily of two major areas: the field map and a battle screen. The field map is a realistically scaled 3D environment traversed by foot. On the field maps, various skits between the characters can be viewed. They involve animated character portraits, subtitles, and full voice acting. Skits concern anything from character development to side details. The battle screen is a 3D representation of an area, in which the player commands the characters in battles against CPU-controlled enemies.

Reception
Tales of Xillia was received positively in Japan. It broke the record for the most pre-orders in the Tales series and sold over half a million copies in its first week. During Sony's PlayStation Awards, Tales of Xillia received the gold prize and the User's choice award. Famitsu praised the game for its attentive visuals, accessibility, and fast battle system.

Tales of Xillia ranked as one of August's top selling games on the North American PSN. IGN gave the game an 8.0 out of 10 calling the combat fun, saying the story was interesting, and having lots of replay value but criticizing it for its sub-par graphics.